April 16, 2014

SLOVYANSK, Ukraine — A highly publicized Ukrainian Army operation to retake control of Slovyansk and other eastern cities from pro-Russia insurgents appeared to falter badly on Wednesday, with one column of armored vehicles abandoned to militant separatists and another ground to a halt by unarmed protesters blocking its path.

The setbacks appeared to reflect new indecision and dysfunction by the interim authorities in Kiev, the capital, who have been vowing for days to end the insurrections in the restive east that they say have been instigated by Russia.

Ukrainian news media reported that pro-Russian militias had commandeered six armored personnel carriers from the Ukrainian Army and driven them to the central square here in Slovyansk, about 120 miles from the Russian border. A crowd gathered to gape at the squat tracked vehicles and at the red, white and blue flag of Russia flapping in the breeze.

About 100 soldiers in unmarked green uniforms, bearing no insignia but carrying professional infantry equipment, guarded the vehicles. They wore twirled around their right shoulder straps the orange and black ribbons that are a symbol of the Soviet Union’s victory in World War II, and now of Russia’s nationalist resurgence. Some of the soldiers had grenade launchers slung over their shoulders.

Another Ukrainian armored column fared little better when its advance toward Slovyansk, which has been occupied by pro-Russian militants for days, was halted in a village to the south by a crowd blocking the road. By early afternoon, several hundred people were milling around the motionless column of 15 tracked personnel carriers, drinking beer and fraternizing with the soldiers.

Initially, the soldiers tried to clear a path by firing in the air, residents said. One of the tracked vehicles rammed an Opel car parked in the road, shoving it aside. But the crowd did not disperse, and the soldiers adopted a passive stance, turning off their vehicle engines, climbing on top of their vehicles and removing the magazines from their rifles.

So far, not much happening for the Ukrainian government, but if the US and EU provides it with lots of weapons, there can be a bloodbath, and then Russia might be forced to act in order to defend Russians in eastern Ukraine.

That may be just what the globalist elites want as they can use 'Russian aggression' as the pretext for tougher international sanctions against Russia.

"They wore twirled around their right shoulder straps the orange and black ribbons that are a symbol of the Soviet Union’s victory in World War II, and now of Russia’s nationalist resurgence. "

Those are St. George's ribbons. The order of St. George was the most important military decoration in Russia from the time of Catherine the Great till 1917. It was reinstated under Putin. Orange-black ribbons were always a part of it - you can see them on lots of 18th and 19th century military portraits. Stalin revived a lot of old Russian symbolism during WWII. He didn't revive the order of St. George itself, but he put its ribbon on the "For Victory Over Germany" medal that was given to everyone who fought and came out alive. I remember playing with my grandfather's Victory medal as a kid - it's seriously cool-looking thing. The words around the generalissimo's severe profile mean "Our cause is just. We won".

So yes, the ribbons are associated with 1945, but they have a much longer history than that.

I don't know why the little town of Slavyansk has been the focus of this war so far. Its name basically means "Slavic town". The initial order to storm it was given by Arsen Avakov, Ukraine's Armenian Interior Minister. Someone on the Internet put a picture of him above the words "Not a Slav. Is putting down Slavic Town."

No one in the world except John McCain wants to fight for Ukraine, including Ukrainians and Russians.

Not unlike the US and Canada. One country is officially bilingual the other unofficially bilingual, one has vanilla socialized medicine and the other has Obamacare, one has nukes, the other doesn't have nukes. People might have a preference, but nothing to kill over.

I can see Russia wanting an Oblast or two ... which would disqualify Ukraine from NATO since it would have border disputes. It worked to DQ Georgia.

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